Whalewatching in Madagascar: Project researchers helped to train ecotourism guides, working with the Peace Corps to teach basic biology and English language skills to guides
Whalewatching in Madagascar
TAKE ONLY PHOTOS; LEAVE ONLY A WAKE
Whales are worth watching. Seeing the massive marine mammals up close and personal (not too close, however; see below) is an experience never to be forgotten. It is also an experience many people will pay to have, as whalewatching guides from California to the Bay of Fundy have discovered.
Dr. Howard C. Rosenbaum, of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Science Resource Center and a researcher with the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, has returned from his fifth season studying the whales of Antongil Bay, Madagascar. In what Howard calls "one of the best seasons ever," a new law governing ecotourism and whalewatching in Malagasy waters was passed that will ensure the protection of the region’s visiting whales along their migration route. The new law was based on guidelines developed by WCS and the CBC, and received the enthusiastic endorsement of Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment.
The CBC/WCS humpback whale project in Madagascar has been watching and researching whales for five years now as part of its ongoing study of the huge sea creatures’ behavior and migration patterns. While keeping an eye on the whales themselves, researchers have also assisted in the development, growth and regulation of local, community-based whalewatching and ecotourism in Antongil Bay.
In 1996, the CBC/WCS project began to build a network of local people interested in whales and ecotourism. By 1997 the activity had grown enough that CBC/WCS researchers developed the first guidelines for whalewatching. These guidelines covered safety—for both whales and watchers—and the correct way for tourboats to approach whales. Some of the guidelines seem like common sense—for instance, swimming with the whales or touching them is discouraged. Others distill the experience of years of observing whales in their native habitat, and help ensure that the animals are not disturbed or alarmed by the watchers.
Project researchers helped to train ecotourism guides, working with the Peace Corps to teach basic biology and English language skills to guides and would-be guides. They also worked with boat operators, teaching them how to approach whales. To help make local ecotourism self-sustaining, CBC/WCS encouraged the guides and boat operators to form their own organization, and adapt rules and standards. In 1999 boat operators did just that, forming the Maroantsetra Association of Whale-Watching Operators.
All this work with local communities and stakeholders provided a "model system" for ecotourism in the country, and the government began to pay attention. Responding to the growth of ecotourism and especially whalewatching in Madagascar, the Malagasy Ministry of the Environment contacted WCS-Madagascar and asked to view the guidelines for whalewatching that had been developed. The result was a law governing whalewatching in Madagascar that essentially adopted many of the CBC/WCS guidelines. The law establishes standards for whalewatching, identifies the people responsible for monitoring it, addresses safety issues for both whales and whalewatching tourists, and charges local jurisdictions with enforcing the law.
The CBC/WCS humpback whale project has helped the formation of both community-based ecotourism and the development of a community of scientists and conservation-minded government officials. The more people who experience (in an appropriate way) the awe-inspiring spectacle of whales in their native environment, the thinking is, the more people there will be concerned with whale conservation. Whalewatching also brings income to the communities around Antongil Bay (a real consideration in Madagascar, where depletion of natural resources is a constant problem), and provides a way of making a living on the water that will not have a negative impact on these majestic marine mammals. "Our hope is that this effort will be self-sustaining," says Rosenbaum.
